


Porcelain Black

by AmunetMana



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU setting, Ion's Kingverse inspired, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-11 05:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1169179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmunetMana/pseuds/AmunetMana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How do you love someone without getting hurt?</p>
<p> - For the lovely Ion~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Creation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ionahi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Ionahi).



> _Mama never told me how to love_   
> _Daddy never told me how to feel_   
> _Mama never told me how to touch_   
> _Daddy never showed me how to heal_

 

“We cannot allow this to go further.”

 

The thickly accented voice was deep and firm, without compromise, but North’s eyes, the eyes of the King of the mighty Iron Court, held fear as he spoke. He addressed the two figures before him from his position on the dais. His stance was stiff, and he clutched the arms of his throne tightly, his knuckles white from the pressure. Although, that was as likely to be because of the discomfort of his throne, as it was from the uncomfortable nature of their meeting.. His crown sat heavy on his head, an imposing creation of iron, suited for the heavy-set King.

 

There was a fluttering before him, as Toothiana, Queen of the Sky Court, buoyed herself nervously in the air. She was unable to maintain her usual precision, weighed down as she was by her worry. Even though her face was twisted with fear, she was still a sight to behold. The light shafting down through the roof windows of North’s palace refracted through her wings, shining dazzling colours onto the floor like a stained glass window. Her jewelled crown and anklets shimmered and twinkled with a similar light.

 

“I don’t know,” she said fretfully. “Is this really necessary? He hasn’t actually attacked anyone, just - ”

 

“Just what?” the third voice joined in, loud and brash against Tooth’s softer tones. Bunnymund of the Gaian Court looked up at her, before turning his gaze to North. He too wore a crown, skilfully designed to twist around his ears and across his brow, almost a living thing of aster flowers and young green shoots and leaves. “Just terrorised the courts, just threatened _war_? We can’t let him continue!”

 

“But if we attack him, there will still be war! Except there will be no one to blame but us!” Tooth shot back, her hands clenching. “If there is to be war either way, I refuse to be the one to instigate it.” The veil tossed across her head fluttered as her wings sped up, an angry blur of light and colour behind her. Her appearance as the most delicate of the monarchs was deceptive and ridiculous both. It was when she grew angry like this that her true power began to show as clearly as the others’ did.

 

“We can’t stand by as he continues to stir up trouble!” Bunnymund protested, despite the step back he instinctively took at the sight of the furious Tooth. He squared up against her, chin tilted up. North frowned slamming his hand down onto the throne, causing a resounding clang to roll through the room. Both Tooth and Bunnymund turned to stare at him.

 

“Bunny is right, we cannot allow this to continue,” North began, causing Bunnymund to shoot a smug look at Tooth, who scowled, “but, we cannot wage war. We cannot waste life like that.” It was Tooth’s turn to look vindicated, as she ducked her head to North in acknowledgement. North held up his hand for a moment, holding the silence, before continuing, “Besides, we cannot defeat him. He is needed. Every Court has its place, and every court has its ruler. There is no one to replace him in the Night Court.”

 

“…there is still no word from Sandy?” Tooth asked sadly, her wings slowing once again. North shook his head, sad.

 

“Nothing. Not since Pitch changed, and the Night Court along with him.” The Night Court, once the protectors of dreams, of imagination and magic, now a dark, twisted place. The whispers spread through the other Courts, along with a new name. The Nightmare Court.

 

“We may need the Night Court, but we don’t need Pitch ruling it,” Bunny interjected.

 

“At least…not alone…” North said slowly, and slowly but surely his eyes lit up, as a new idea bloomed in his mind.

 

“North? What are you thinking?” Tooth asked carefully, worried by the look in her fellow monarch’s eyes. North lifted his gaze to meet her eyes, dangerous hope spreading across his features. Bunnymund twitched at the sight of it.

 

“I think I have it,” North said, certainty in his voice, “A way to fix everything.”

 

~

 

And so he found himself hunched over in his workshop, creating something he had never even dreamt he would make before. Could ever make before.

 

There had been grumbles about a king who owned and used something so basic as a workshop, but it was something North refused to relinquish. But then again there were also grumbles about a once-human ruling one of the four courts. North cared for neither set of whispers. The act of creation had been his solace and his joy for as long as he had lived, from before his life as a spirit and before he was king. It was such an intrinsic part of him; he could not stop creating.

 

Although, for the task at hand…North was beginning to regret his idea. He glanced out of the wide windows, taking in the inkiness of the night that had fallen. Like tar had coated the sky, blocking out all light, even the stars. It was no wonder Toothiana and her court were suffering so much. Why she was so weakened.

 

North's eyes narrowed, and he returned to his work with renewed vigour. This was for all their sakes, he reminded himself fiercely. This had to be done before things spiralled far out of their control.

 

~

 

Tooth was speechless at the sight of what North had created. Brought to her domain by two yeti, the most loyal of North's subjects, and placed in her chambers with reverend care, the creation had been swathed in gossamer wrappings. Tooth peeled them back carefully, almost fearfully. They dropped from her hands in shock as she saw what lay beneath them.

 

A boy. Skin so pale it was near translucent, hair whiter than snow, stark against the dark skies outside Tooth's Palace. Smooth and delicate, a beautiful child, looking as though he had been carved from ice. Perhaps he had. North had skills beyond anything Tooth had ever seen. Guilt wrapped around  her chest, a crushing pressure on her. It was real. Too real. How could they have thought this was a good idea?

 

Even as such thoughts entered her mind, she busied herself with taking up the cloth, leaving the boy nestled in the sheets of her bed. She took little time to fashion the cloth into a robe, vaguely oriental, and tied around the waist with a long strip of fabric, a blue so deep it resembled the sky, with glittering stars embedded in the fabric.

 

Tooth tried to keep her actions clinical. She dressed the boy with no hassle, her lips tight, and her eyes without emotion. But after he was clothed and she snuck a glance at him, she couldn't help but press a hand to his cheek. It was cold to the touch, not the coldness of death, but of that which had never known life. Tooth shivered. North's skills were too great. To create something so lifelike, it scared her.

 

Although…

 

She pulled her hand away, her feet coming to rest on the floor, her wings dropping down as her face crumpled.

 

Not as much as what they had planned scared her. She wasn’t…it had seemed such an easy solution. An elegant, sweet faced solution…she flushed a little as she snatched her fingers back from the soft cheek of the boy. She just hadn’t expected it to be so very real. And in just a few days, he was going to be more real than any of them were ready for. He needed to be ready for life, she thought, feeling stirring in her heart. Barely breathing, she summoned magic into her grasp, cool and blue as the sky. Cupping her hands gently, she blew the magic across the boy’s body, watching as the glow formed wind and snowflakes around the boy’s head and heart.

 

A weather spirit? Tooth blinked in surprise. But…how…how on earth had the magic reacted? It was an empty shell. The magic should have done nothing but settle in his body until…until the boy was brought alive. So why…

 

Snowflakes continued to dance around the boy’s body, landing on his skin delicately and crystal. Tooth flew back, a sudden desperate need to get away from the body filling her. She was done. She couldn’t go anywhere near him. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she and the other monarchs were in the process of making a hideous mistake.

 

~

 

Bunny was as hesitant as Tooth when he approached the body, now clothed elegantly with flowers from his personal garden that had been woven into silver hair. Perhaps he was even more hesitant than Tooth. His task was, after all, the hardest of the three. North and Tooth stood behind him, waiting for him to proceed. Bunny was hesitant, his paws flexing slightly, his head turning back minutely to the other monarchs.

 

"You know once we do this there is no going back," Bunny warned them abruptly, surprisingly quiet as he observed the delicate body before him. "If I do this, he becomes real. Are you both prepared to accept that whatever he faces, we are responsible?"

 

Tooth opened her mouth to speak, but North cut across her. "We are. We must be. He is made for this, he will be okay. And he will save us all."

 

North spoke too quickly; his haste betraying his nerves. Bunny fixed him with a look,  to which the Iron King glanced away, expression twisted.

 

“Just do it,” he whispered.

 

Bunny stretched out his paws, reaching over the pale, frail body. “The gifts have been given,” he intoned slowly, green light blossoming around his body, flowers and fresh, thick grass blossoming up around his feet and around the body, “the gift of form, from the Iron Court. The gift of magic from the Sky Court, and from the Gaian Court…life itself.” The light intensified and suddenly, with an almighty rush, the boy’s body jerked up as he sucked air into his lungs for the very first time. Bunny didn’t flinch even as the boy’s eyes shot open, shocking blue irises peeked out from around the edge of blown pupils.

 

The eyes closed swiftly however, and Bunny doubted the boy had even seen anything. He looked just as he had before now, eyes closed, face peaceful…except now, there was the faint rise and fall of the boy’s chest as he breathed. Bunny stepped back, one step, two steps…before turning completely and walking over to the others.

 

“It’s done,” he said gruffly, before pushing past them. North and Tooth watched him for just a moment, before following after. It was safest to leave their creation here until they contacted the Night Court. Before everything changed.

 

~

 

 

Unbeknownst and unseen by all three monarchs, a trail of golden sand swirled down through the air, coiling and settling on the shivering, newly alive body. Sanderson Mansnoozie watched from his spot high in the rafters, face a peaceful smile, a sharp contrast to the monarchs. No matter how much they wished to pretend they were content with their choice, it was clear that they were scared. Of fear, or of their own morality, Sandy didn’t care to find out.

 

What he cared about, he thought as he watched his golden magic glitter one last moment on the boy’s skin before fading away, was that this boy survived, and lived to have many good dreams.

 

Sandy would make sure he would. No matter what fate the monarchs had intended for him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting is arranged.

Tooth took a moment longer as she stroked the long white feathers of the bird balancing on her finger, pretending to fuss over the little note attached to its leg.

 

“You must let him fly at some point, Tooth,” North said gently, glancing over from the plush seats positioned around the fire. Bunny didn’t even bother to look up, spending him time gazing morosely into the fire instead. His ears were pricked towards the slightly ajar door behind him, subtly listening for any signs of life from their creation, any subtle noise of stirring. Tooth gazed at the door, before giving the bird one final stroke before sending it flying through the roof window. After it had fluttered away, Tooth made her way over to the seats, settling herself down besides her fellow monarchs. The fourth seat was conspicuously empty, but North still hadn’t moved it, even after all this time.

 

“How long will it take him to respond?” North asked, after a few moments of silence.

 

"Your guess is as good as mine," Tooth shrugged helplessly. North's gaze moved, across to Bunny.

 

"What do you think?" North prodded very deliberately at the silent spirit who refused to look at either of them. Bunny might as well have not heard North, other than for tightening his fists in response to being dragged into the conversation.

 

"I think," Bunny said slowly, the sound of his voice surprising Tooth, "that what we have done is wrong. That what we're planning to do is wrong. We are playing with life and it ain't right." Tooth's eyes closed. She agreed with him. With all her heart she agreed with him, wanted to vocalise that agreement, but...she was a Queen. She couldn't rule with her heart. Only with her mind, and Bunny...Bunny should know that. Should agree, should ignore the enormous nature of what they had done and simply accept that it was what was best for all of their courts.

 

"We did only what was needed," North said roughly, vocalising Tooth's thoughts, "you said it yourself, war has been looming over our heads. This will stop that threat. This is what will keep everyone safe, and-"

 

"And who's gonna keep that kid safe, huh?" Bunny snapped, springing up from his seat and stalking into the room their creation lay in. North looked as if he was going to rise and follow him for a moment, but Tooth laid a hand on his arm, fingertips digging into the skin in a faint warning.

 

"He has always been the most emotional," Tooth said quietly. North scoffed.

 

"The most volatile." He muttered. Tooth raised her eyebrow, her gaze disapproving and disbelieving.

 

"You are hardly the right one to accuse others of being volatile." She scolded him, although her lips twitched a little. North scowled at her in response.

 

"I simply know when a situation is too important to get emotional over," he protested, volume rising.

 

"Just like you are now?" Tooth asked dryly. North opened his mouth to protest before her words sunk in and he closed it again, leaning back into the chair heavily. “...we are crossing a line,” Tooth admitted, her hand on North’s arm becoming soothing, “but we are doing it for the best reasons. We have given our lives to ensure that the Courts remain safe and stable - no, more than stable, prosperous.” She slid onto the arm on North’s chair, leaning against him. “We need the Night Court as it once was. A balance to my own, not an oppressor.” she shivered, glancing out of the window. “So many of my court are afraid to spread their wings,” she murmured. “I can’t stand to see them so despondent. So afraid to do what it is their birthright to do.”

 

North’s hand found Tooth’s shoulder, and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You are taking care of them now,” he told her, and the fiery determination had returned to his eyes. “We are all taking care of our own,” he glanced over at the door which had now been closed behind Bunny, “even if he refuses to accept it.”

 

It was several hours before Tooth’s white winged messenger returned, a black slip curled around his leg. The bird flapped free as soon as Tooth removed the note, darting into the room that held their creation just as Bunny was exiting that same room as he heard the commotion. He stared back after the bird, watching as it fluttered around their creation before settling down by the soft white hair. After one last protective glance over the boy, Bunny turned his gaze back to his fellow monarchs.

 

“He’s responded? What did he say?” his body shifted until it almost completely covered the doorway, hiding the body behind him from sight.

 

Tooth’s eyes scanned over the message once, then twice before responding”...He’s agreed to meet with us,” she said finally, her gaze shifting from North to Bunny. “he wants to hear our offer.”

 

Bunny’s eyes narrowed. “I still don’t like it,” he grumbled darkly. “I don’t want to give Jack to him.”

 

North frowned, “Jack?”

 

“Jack Frost.” Bunny looked shifty. “He needs a name. And we’ve all seen the snow he makes, even whilst he’s unconscious. He’s practically frosted over his clothes already.”

 

“Are you _stupid?_ ” North exploded at him. “What do you think you’re doing, naming him?! He is - “

 

“He is a living creature that we are _sacrificing_ to try and keep the peace!” Bunny shot back at him, “what is it, does giving him a name suddenly make it seem too real? Make it seem like he’s alive? Well guess what North! _He is alive_. He is as alive and real as you and I, and whether he has a name or not doesn’t change that!"

 

"None of us are happy with this!" Tooth cried, flying between the two kings to push them away from each other. "We must meet with him, we must show him...Jack. We must follow this through, for the sake of all the kingdoms," she said firmly, the tremors eradicated from her voice.

 

It was so much easier to steel your own nerves in the face of other's uncertainty.

 

North had crafted a kind of transportable bed for Jack, and with that in tow, they travelled through the snow globe portals to reach the meeting place with pitch. Two yetis carried Jack on his resting place, and on the boy's shoulder rested Tooth's bird, emitting soft noises and unbothered by the curling frost. The yetis settled the bed down, beside the lake that had been chosen. Neutral territory, a location that bridged between the world of spirits and humans. Typically, children played by the lake, screams of delight and laughter sounding through the air. Now, in the dark of night with the stretch of stars above them, the silent, still water made the perfect calm to face the Night King.

 

Not that he was often called by the name anymore; instead he was known as the Night _mare_ King, with inky shadows crawling across his robes, spilling across the ground and worming their way into the hearts of his subjects. The same shadows which appeared before the monarchs now, reaching up into the air, weaving together until the form of a man appeared, and King Pitch stepped forward, eyes glittering golden in the dark.

 

His lips pulled back, revealing uneven teeth in a twisted imitation of a smile. "Well well," he greeted them, stepping forward with a sweep of his long, black sleeves. At one point, they had been heavy with gold embroidery; now only glittered with only black stones. "Imagine my surprise when I found myself _honoured_ with correspondence from my fellow monarchs?" The look on his eyes was nasty. "I wasn't aware we were on speaking terms at present."

 

"We're not," bunny said darkly, as North stepped forward.

 

"We have a deal to offer you," North told the dark king. "A bargain. You will give us peace, and we will give you..."

 

He stepped back, and swept out his arm, revealing Jack's still body behind them, "him." North finished.

 

Pitch stared at the boy, jaw lax and eyes wide. Then, abruptly, rage laced through his features, and he snarled at the monarchs, a whip of black, shimmering sand coiling behind him, soon swept up into a flurry of dark magic. "What kind of a joke is this?" He hissed darkly, "you, the bright and noble courts, try to bribe me with means of a slave? And for what purpose would I use him?!" His eyes darkened further, lip curling distastefully at the sight of the flimsy robe, of Jack's smooth, unblemished skin. "Oh, but there's only one purpose you would grant me such a _beauty_ for," his words were laced heavily with mockery. "How the mighty have fallen."

 

"we did not fall, we were pushed, by you!" Tooth snapped out, darting forward to shove her finger in Pitch's chest accusingly. Her wings buzzed with the sound of enraged creatures, her violet eyes burning accusingly into Pitch's. "This is how far we have been driven, by you and your attacks on our people!! For that is what they are. We all know it." Her eyes flickered, and now it was sadness that dwelled in them. "What _happened_ to you Pitch? You...you used to be such a good king, and now..."

 

"And now I'm a monster?" Pitch asked, already bored with this conversation. He pushed Toothiana aside, making his way over to where Jack lay on his bed. Both North and Bunny tensed, but Pitch ignored them too, leaning over the still boy. He reached down to touch the pale form, but retracted his fingers swiftly as frost swirled into existence under his fingers, across the boys clothes. Gold eyes widened, and Pitch took a step back, observing Jack pensively.

 

“...Well. I’d just hate for all your hard work to have been wasted.” Pitch dissolved into shadows and rematerialised in second, scooping up the delicate body with him as he rose from the dark ground. The boy looked so pale and fragile against him, the robes Tooth had dressed him in falling in a silvery cascade around his body. Tooth abruptly wanted to snatch the boy back, to take everything back. She placed her hand on Bunny's shoulder, feeling the tight, knotted tension beneath the thick fur. She wasn't the only one, then.

 

"Do we have your word?" North asked, his voice sounding thick and rough. "The boy...Jack Frost, in exchange for peace?"

 

Bunny went lax with shock, gaze turning to North, but the Iron King kept his gaze on Pitch. Pitch returned his gaze lazily, before allowing his lips to curl up disdainfully. "You have my word," he told them silkily, turning away. "Now. If this farce of a meeting is quite finished..."

 

And with that, he had vanished. In a swirl of shadows both he and Jack were gone. Tooth let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and allowed herself to crumple to the ground, wings ceasing their frantic beating to lie still against her back, the hammering of her heart booming through her body. North's hand came to rest on her arm, pressing through the gauze that rested across her head. "It's done," he said quietly. Bunny made a discontented noise, but didn't say anything. It would be a long time before any of them spoke again. It was supposed to be a deal that would return everything to normal. It felt like things would now only spiral even further out of control.

 

~

 

Pitch rematerialised in the depths of his court, well into his private chambers. He all but threw Jack down onto the bed, staring at the boy balefully. Like he was to blame for some great evil in the world.

 

"What a pretty picture they made of you," he muttered, eyes narrowed. "Do you wake, I wonder? Talk and think? Or have I traded in for a doll of a creature?"

 

He reached down, pulling Jack's robe free from his body, discarding it to the floor. It crackled a little as the frost bent and splintered under the careless motions.

 

Humming tunelessly, he swept his hands across Jack’s bared chest, dark shadows weaving under his touch, to create a high necked shirt. It was far more form fitting than the robe had been, only a slight billow in the sleeves that was quickly drawn back in at the wrists. Simililar ribbons of inky black coiled around Jack's ankles.

 

"I know why they gave you to me," pitch told the unconscious body. "They want to make a new king, one who will follow their ways and keep me in check." The more he touched Jack, the more snow flurried, and droplets of water froze in the boy's hair. "Well then," pitch told the boy after a pause, "a king you shall be. _My_ King."

 

Pitch waved a hand above Jack's head, a trail of glittering black following it.

 

Silence

 

And then, frosted lashes parting, to reveal eyes bluer than the sky.

  
Pitch smiled.

 

**Author's Note:**

> _Mama never set a good example_   
> _Daddy never held mama's hands_   
> _Mama found everything hard to handle_   
> _Daddy never stood up like a man_


End file.
